


of english presentations and stabbing people

by StopIWantToTalkAboutCheese



Series: high school catradora [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Modern Era, Swearing, but like only mildly, catra's a normal human
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:40:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25706047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StopIWantToTalkAboutCheese/pseuds/StopIWantToTalkAboutCheese
Summary: Adora has always noticed the girl sitting two desks away from her in first-period English class. It's hard not to. When an opportunity to be partners on a project comes up, she finally gets to speak to this girl- even though they both have issues.It's your stereotypical "partners on a school project" cliche.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: high school catradora [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877224
Comments: 16
Kudos: 178





	of english presentations and stabbing people

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this in like..., two hours, in a fevered haze, in the middle of the night

Adora was early to class for once, and she was determined not to mess it up.

She and Glimmer had carpooled with Bow that morning, and _for once_ his older brothers _hadn’t_ hogged the bathroom all morning, which meant Bow could get ready on time and had come sprinting out the door at exactly seven thirty eight in the morning, giving them plenty of time to get to school on time. 

It was weird. Usually, the three of them, plus another classmate named Lonnie, were the last ones in the door.

Of course, now that they were here, they had to _wait_.

Bow flipped open his homework binder, and Glimmer opened her English notebook, straightening it neatly. Adora laid her head in her arms to try to get some rest.

Over Bow’s sudden panicked noises when he realized he had forgotten about the homework and the scratching of Glimmer’s pen, Adora tuned in to the sounds of the classroom.

There was a soft but relentless _puck-puck-thump, puck-puck-puck-thump_ noise that had Adora grumbling and looking around for the source of the noise.

Catra, the girl with brown hair that she had recently cut in a bob, who had heterochromia and skin that looked really, _really_ soft, and who was currently sitting exactly two seats away from Adora, was busy throwing pencils at the ceiling to try to get them to stick. Ah. So that was what the noise was.

Giving up on getting more rest, Adora sat up and looked around the classroom. Glimmer was beside her, doodling in her notebook, and Bow was on her other side, frantically scribbling in the chapter that had been assigned the day before. He would be fine. It was a short chapter.

Scorpia, Catra’s best friend, was sitting next to her, wincing when a pencil fell and cheering quietly when one stuck. Catra didn’t seem to notice, or maybe she just didn’t care. 

Entrapta was sitting on Catra’s other side, so she was sandwiched between Catra and Glimmer. She was poking at some kind of contraption that had Adora feeling quietly glad that she wasn’t sitting _right_ next to her. Entrapta’s inventions had been known either to have a mind of their own, or blow up. Sometimes both. 

As the bell rang, and Lonnie sprinted in, Ms. Weaver appeared in the doorway.

Adora had always thought their teacher was weirdly pretty. Not in a sexual way, just in a “oh hey, she’s attractive” kind of way. She had green eyes, and near-perfect pale skin. Her face was crisscrossed with old scar tissue, but that only added to her allure. She never seemed to walk, but instead seemed to float, or glide, down the hallways.

She was also a little bit creepy.

Adora, Glimmer, and Bow had nicknamed her _Shadow Weaver_ because of the way she always seemed to be lurking in the shadows, popping up to scare the life out of you at any given moment. She was like a real-life Professor Snape.

Ms. Weaver walked smoothly into the room, and the chatter of the class died down. Catra threw one last pencil and whooped when it lodged in the ceiling, grinning unabashedly when Weaver turned a glare on her.

“Good morning, class,” Weaver said, and added offhandedly to Lonnie, “That’s three times this week. Detention.”

“It wasn’t my fault!”

“Two detentions.”

“Kyle was sick and Rogelio didn’t want to leave him!”

“Would you like three?”

Scowling, Lonnie slumped in her seat. Adora wished she were close enough to give Lonnie a reassuring pat or something.

“As I’m sure you all did the homework last night,” Weaver said, sending a pointed look Bow’s way, “you all know that we’ve finished our book. Usually, a test follows.” She glared around the room, daring anyone to complain. Nobody did. “How _ever_ , instead of a test, you will be doing projects on the material.” She held up a hand to forestall any groaning. “You will be making some sort of visual– a posterboard, a video, I don’t care– and presenting it. You can pick your partners.”

Adora automatically glanced over at Bow, only to see him giving her a pleading look, nodding at Glimmer. She turned to see Glimmer doing the same thing. She sighed. Her friends were going to have to do something about their mutual crush before she drowned in the sexual tension.

Getting up from her chair and smiling at her friends’ hushed _thank you!_ whispers, Adora glanced around the room. It looked like most people had already partnered up, but there was an even amount of people in the class, so there had to be _somebody_ who would–

“Hey, Adora.”

Adora spun around.

Standing behind her was Catra, fiddling with the hem of her leather jacket absentmindedly, looking as casually confident as ever. “You wanna pair up?”

Adora blinked, looking around. Scorpia and Entrapta had evidently partnered up, although both were giving apologetic looks towards Catra. Adora spotted Weaver gliding away from the pair, and had a feeling she knew what had happened. Weaver’s hatred of Catra was no secret. Evidently, she didn’t even want Catra to work with one of her friends on a stupid school project.

She swallowed a burst of unexpected anger, and smiled at Catra instead. “Sure.”

“Cool.” Catra moved into Glimmer’s vacated desk, and Adora scooched her own desk closer. “I’m Catra.”

“Adora. But, uh, you already know that.”

Catra smiled slightly. “You’re the track-and-field, football, sports star. Of course I knew that.”

“Oh. I guess I am.” Adora ducked her head sheepishly, silently cursing her inability to speak normally.

“What’s going on here?”

The sudden voice had Adora’s head shooting up and Catra suddenly going ramrod straight in her chair.

Ms. Weaver was standing in front of them, looking down her nose at them suspiciously. Her mouth was pressed into a scowl, and her cold green eyes were fixed on Catra, who seemed to be doing her best impression of an invisible rock.

“We’re partners,” Adora said. “That’s okay, right?”

Weaver looked between her and Catra, looking bemused. “I see,” she said finally. “Catra, we will be discussing this later.” She glided off, and both Catra and Adora let out sighs of relief.

“Sorry about that,” Catra mumbled. “My mom’s a hardass.”

“Your– oh, right.” Weaver was Catra’s foster mom, right? Adora wasn’t the most observant person in the world, but she was pretty sure that was correct. “Um.”

“It’s cool if you forgot. Sometimes I think she forgets, too. Not like she gives me special preference,” Catra said with a bitter laugh, drumming her fingernails on the desktop.

“Yeah. Um.” Adora didn’t know what to say. “Is she– always like that?”

“Like what? A bitch?”

“Um…”

Catra snorted with laughter, all high-pitched and squeaky. “Yeah, she is.”

“So, uh, when do you want to work on the project?” Adora asked, desperate to change the subject. “I’m free pretty much any time. Football’s over, so…”

“I can’t stay after school today,” Catra said, unwrapping a lollipop and sticking it in her mouth, maintaining eye contact with Adora the entire time. “I have jiujitsu practice.”

Adora blinked. “You take jiujitsu?”

Catra sucked on her lollipop, and it might have been her imagination, but Adora was pretty sure Catra’s eyes were roving over Adora’s chest. “Yeah,” Catra said eventually. “My therapist had me sign up after I stabbed a guy with a plastic fork in a Duane Reade. He was getting a little too handsy-feelsy, if you know what I mean.”

“I… yeah,” Adora said. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

Catra nodded silently.

“I, uh, I take jiujitsu too.” Adora said awkwardly. “I’ve never seen you in the place.”

Catra shrugged. “Maybe we’re at different time slots. So what do you want to do for this project, anyway? I’m thinking Keynote slides. You?”

“Keynote’s fine.” Adora tugged her computer out of her bag. “I’ll share a document with you.”

“Cool.” Catra leaned back in her seat, lollipop still in her mouth. Adora could hear her crunching down on it.

“Um.” Adora said, searching desperately for something to fill the silence. “I go to therapy, too.”

“Oh, yeah?” Catra glanced over. “What for?”

“Uh, I used to live in a really, really bad situation. Glimmer’s family adopted me and got me out of there, but, well, I have issues now. You know. Perfectionism, trying to fix everyone else's problems by ignoring my own, setting boundaries, that kind of stuff.”

Catra looked faintly amused. “That’s a little personal for a class project, isn’t it? This isn’t _The Breakfast Club_ , you know.”

Adora felt a surge of confidence, and she grinned at Catra. “You’re the one who told me you stabbed somebody in a Duane Reade. If anyone’s oversharing, it’s _you_.”

Catra barked out a laugh. “Okay, fair.”

“So… why do _you_ go to therapy?”

Catra scowled, and Adora knew at once she’d crossed a boundary. “Um, never mind–” she started to say, but Catra interrupted her.

“My impulse control is kaput, I have trust issues, my parents are dead, all that good stuff. I’m every psychiatrist’s best dream and worst nightmare. We good, Princess?” Catra crossed her arms, chewing angrily on the white lollipop stick.

“Um.” Adora said. “I… yeah. Sorry. I didn’t mean to–”

“Whatever,” Catra huffed, laying her head on the desk. “I’ll do my part after school.”

She ignored Adora for the rest of the class period, and when the bell rang, Catra had scooped up her bag and vanished in the throng of people in the halls before Adora could even put away her pencil case.

Besides, even if Adora had been fast enough to go after Catra, her friends had crowded together at her desk the second the period was over, and they started heading towards their next class together.

“So, how was _Cat_ ra?” Bow asked, grinning a little too widely. Adora shoved him, and he stumbled into the row of lockers.

“Whoops, sorry. Um, she told me she stabbed someone once, so…” Adora said, and Glimmer gasped.

“What? Adora! That’s seriously messed up!”

“It wasn’t like it was a giant sword,” Adora felt compelled to point out. “Just a plastic fork. And she was provoked.”

“Still!”

“She’s not dangerous,” Adora said, before remembering Catra’s sudden anger. “Or at least, not _that_ dangerous. I’ve been around dangerous people before. Like Hordak.”

“Okay,” Bow said, no longer smiling, “but still… if she’s _stabbed_ someone, and she’s just bragging about it to everyone– that’s _weird_ , Adora. We just want you to be safe, that’s all.”

“Look,” Adora said. “I appreciate your concern, guys, I really do. But I really don’t think she’ll try to hurt me.” When neither of her friends looked convinced, Adora rolled her eyes. “Worst case scenario, I could totally take her in a fight. Okay?”

“Okay,” Glimmer said, still looking unhappy.

“Okay,” Bow echoed.

“Okay,” Adora said, and stole a glance at her watch. “Uh oh. We’d better get going. Class starts in two minutes.”

Glimmer grabbed Adora’s wrist, spotted the time, and yelped. “We have to go! Come on, Bow!” Grabbing Bow’s hand, Glimmer bolted forwards, with Adora hurtling along in their wake. 

Putting all thoughts of Catra out of her mind, Adora let herself be inundated by the mild panic of being late and let herself be dragged along by her friends.

* * *

A day later, and Adora had all but forgotten the incident with Catra completely. She only remembered when she arrived at her locker to pick up her supplies for her math class, and blinked in surprise.

Scorpia and Catra were already standing there, having a hushed discussion.

Adora slowly walked over, and cleared her throat, ignoring the way Catra jumped and gave her a deer-in-the-headlights look. “Uh, ‘scuse me.”

The duo moved, silently, and watched as Adora grabbed her stuff. She shut her locker and started making her way back down the hall.

“Hey, hold on a second,” Scorpia called after her, and Adroa glanced back. Catra was now giving the same deer-in-the-headlights look to Scorpia, and Scorpia was beckoning Adora over.

Adora walked back. “Yeah?”

Scorpia gave Catra a little push, and Catra growled– actually _growled_ – and begrudgingly looked Adora in the eye as Scorpia backed off. “Look,” Catra said, “I’m sorry I was a bitch yesterday.”

…What.

Catra seemed to take Adora’s silence as a challenge.

“Okay, look, I’m working on regulating my emotions, all right?” she said. “Like, I know I have anger issues and stuff. You didn’t know. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. And I asked first. Sorry.”

“Thank you,” Adora managed, and Catra bobbed her head a little.

“Yeah, you’re welcome,” she said. “I was a jerk. So, uh, about the project, my mom was seriously pissed that I was paired with you, like, you’re her favorite student, and I’m… not, so she said I should tell you that you can be in a group of three with your friends if you want. Bow, and Glitter.”

“It’s Glimmer.”

“That’s what I said.”

It sounded like a pretty good deal. Of course, she would have to deal with rampant sexual tension and tragically longing glances from across the room whenever the other person wasn’t looking, but that was everyday life for Adora. It would certainly be easier to work on the project, the three of them were together practically all the time anyways.

But… 

“What would happen to you?”

Catra blinked. “Huh?”

“Would you get to partner with Entrapta and Scorpia?”

“Oh, uh… probably not. But it’s just Keynote slides. I can finish that on my own.”

Adora frowned. “Wait, so you’d have to finish the whole thing by yourself?”

“Yeah, but it’s not like I haven’t done that kind of thing before,” Catra said dismissively. “Everyone gets partners who don’t pull their weight sometimes. I’ve gotten my fair share. I know how to handle a big project on my own. At least I won’t have to worry about somebody else’s grade this time.”

“But that’s not fair. This is a partner project,” Adora pointed out.

“Yeah, well, Weaver isn’t fair. She might’ve already switched you over.”

“Well, I’ll just tell her I’m sticking with you.” Adora said firmly.

Catra’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”

“I’m sticking with you,” Adora repeated. “So why does Weaver hate you so much?”

Catra scoffed. “Don’t you know? She hates children.” she paused for a second, before adding reluctantly, “And she’s had it in for me, ever since I was, like, four.”

_Hmm._

“Well, now we’re partners,” Adora said, and Catra’s lips twitched. 

“Okay.”

Adora scribbled down her number on a piece of loose leaf paper and handed it over. “Look, call me whenever, okay? I don’t know what’s going on with you, and you don’t have to tell me, but I know a thing or two about… bad home situations. We can bond over therapy or jiujitsu or something.”

Catra blinked rapidly, before snatching the paper, turning and hurrying off down the hall.

Well. It was a start.

Giving a deep sigh, Adora turned and checked her watch. As she did, the bell rang.

“Adora!” Lance, her math teacher and one of Bow’s dads, appeared in the hallway. “That’s three times! That’s a detention!”

_…Damn it._

**Author's Note:**

> what did you think?
> 
> edit: so I made this part of a series bc i wanted to write this from catra's pov... so i'll write that and then we'll go from there. this could become a series of oneshots. who knows, certainly not me


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